Elite Arcanist and casting in response to it
Asked by Mr_crazydude 9 years ago
So a friend of mine made harsh combo. At 4 mana he casts an Elite Arcanist and imprints Silence on it (complete legit but kinda lame). Now he claims that whenever he does that he automatically wins the game because I can't cast anything anymore. But I disagree on this because whenever he taps it, Silence goes on the stack. So i'm able to cast in response to it, before it resolves from the stack? is this correct?
He activates (= taps) it on my upkeep. I'm not entirely sure he can do that but I believe it's indeed correct. (can someone confirm that plz?)
So, when Silence goes onto the stack, could I for example cast a creature in response to it going on the stack? Even though the creature is a normal creature, it won't counter anything. (same for enchantments, etc...).
You are correct, you can cast spells in response to the Silence being cast (or even just in response to the Elite Arcanist 's ability being activated). Keep in mind though that they must be either instants or cards with flash (so, you can only respond with a creature if that creature has flash). This is because there is already a spell or ability on the stack, and you can only play non-instant, non-flash cards when the stack is empty. He certainly doesn't automatically win the game, as there are many, many ways to break the combo, such as casting a Doom Blade to kill the Elite Arcanist so that he can't continue with the combo on future turns. Even if there weren't, he only wins when either you lose (due to loss of life, mill, or whatever) or you concede.
Yes, he can activate it during your upkeep.
April 23, 2014 9:23 p.m.
Yes, he can activate it during your upkeep. You get priority before he activate it and can cast instants freely, and yes, after he casts it, you can cast instants before it resolves. However, unless you have a creature with flash, you can't cast it in response.
GoblinsInc says... #1
Yes he can activate the ability during the upkeep.
Yes you can respond to his silence with spells. But they have to be able to be cast as instants. Basically unless you have instants/flash creatures you are going to be struggling.
April 23, 2014 9:21 p.m.